To incorporate drones into our daily lives safely, we need anti-drone instruments. For that reason, on December 4th, the TU Delft Micro Air Vehicle Lab (MAVLab) will host the first ever anti-drone competition, DroneClash.

In this competition, participants will use their own drone(s) to take down as many other drones as possible. They also need to avoid a whole series of anti-drone interventions. Teams who wish to take part in the competition can register now.

“Drones can fly into our lives, but we need to be able to take them out again if necessary,” said Bart Remes of the TU Delft MAVLab. “Drone development has grown hugely in recent years, and you can see the anti-drone industry growing too. Ideally, these developments keep each other in check and result in a safe and responsible incorporation of drones in our daily lives. We are organising DroneClash to generate new ideas in order to encourage this process.”

Participating teams will gather in one of Valkenburg airfield’s hangars in the Netherlands. Four teams will compete in each round. Each team has one or more ‘Fighter drones’ which they can use to take down other drones, and a so-called ‘Queen drone’ which they need to defend. According to the competition organizers, the audience will be able to experience the competition as a sort of real life video game.

The teams start in the Battle 1st Arena, where they have to start trying to take each other down right away. The surviving drones fly through the Hallway of Doom Death and Destruction, where they will be attacked by all kinds of anti-drone instruments. Finally, the remaining drones enter the 4 Queen palace where they must try and knock out the Queen drones of the other teams.

Whichever team is victorious in this final round will be declared the winner.